What would she think if she knew he’d almost given in to the urge to kiss Sarah? Or that he found himself attracted to the woman? He’d never been serious about another woman since Kelly, so how his in-laws would feel about him dating someone had never really been a factor. But what would they think, how would they feel if he eventually found someone and settled down again?

“Sarah used to tutor you and now she’s mentoring me? You never told me that,” Marissa said. “That’s so cool!”

Carolyn glanced at Marissa. “Mentoring you?”

Wes heard the concern in Carolyn’s voice, but obviously Marissa didn’t catch it.

“Yes! She’s helping me with my app and with a secret project,” she said with a grin his way.

Wes did his best to send her a smile, but the food stuck in his throat.

“That’s interesting,” Carolyn said, moving her food around her plate.

His father-in-law didn’t look like he was even listening to the conversation, but Dustin was sending him a look. One he couldn’t quite decipher, but his head nod toward his mother meant Wes needed to say something about the situation.

Wes cleared his throat. “The renos are almost done. Sarah will be leaving soon.”

Carolyn nodded, looking slightly relieved. “Of course. I remember she was always so eager to leave town. I can’t imagine anything would make her want to stay now, not even that old inn,” she said as she resumed eating.

Not even the old inn.

Wes glanced at Marissa, and his daughter’s disappointment had his uneasiness growing. His mother-in-law might be eager to see Sarah leaving town again, but his daughter sure wasn’t.

Unfortunately, Wes couldn’t determine where exactly he fell on the spectrum.

…

Themed rooms were cliché and, thank God, her grandmother had thought so, too. It made repainting the B&B guest rooms a lot easier when Sarah didn’t have to worry about painting over Western or Hollywood Night themes, like other inns along the coast boasted.

Every room in Dove’s Nest was decorated in the same nautical colors and accents. Seafoam-blue walls with white baseboards and trim, black-and-white pictures of local surfers tearing up the waves, a uniquely handcrafted surfboard in the corner that duplicated as a full-length mirror, and seashell-decorated dispensers in the bathrooms.

Simple and old-school elegance. Or at least they used to be and would be again.

The walls were chipped and some of them stained from years of allowing smoking inside, but the decorations still held up, and the cosmetic work wouldn’t take more than a few nights to finish.

Sarah stood in the middle of the first room, already prepped. Painting tarps covered the floor, and blankets were draped over the furniture. Even the edges along the door and window frames and along the ceiling and baseboards were taped, thanks to Wes’s work crew.